At the Linear Collider Workshop held at Stanford University, the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) on Friday, March 18, announced the appointment of Professor Barry Barish as Director of the Global Design Effort for the proposed International Linear Collider. Barish is Linde Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and is currently director of the LIGO laboratory.

"I am thrilled to accept this challenge and I am poised to move us forward energetically toward a global design for the linear collider." said Barish. "Particle physics is a vibrant field entering into a period of profound discoveries. Within the last few years our concept of the universe has radically changed, and these new questions can yield to the accelerator technology that is available to us. The evidence pointing to the scientific richness of the energy regime that would be explored by the linear collider, combined with the technological advances that have made such a machine technically possible, provide an extraordinary platform upon which to undertake the next step. The International Linear Collider can make historic discoveries that will become the science of the textbooks for future generations."

The International Linear Collider is a proposed future international particle accelerator. Barish will lead the hundreds of scientists worldwide who are working on the research and development projects needed for the preparation of a final Technical Design Report for the accelerator. When this report is completed the project will move towards the process of formal funding agency approval. The International Linear Collider would create high-energy particle collisions between electrons and positrons, their antimatter counterparts. The International Linear Collider would provide a tool for scientists to address many of the most compelling questions of the 21st century about dark matter, extra dimensions and the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space and time. From its inception, the International Linear Collider would be designed, funded, managed and operated as an international scientific project.

"Barry Barish is one of the most respected personalities in particle physics, and as head of the International Technology Review Panel for the International Linear Collider; he gained a detailed understanding of all aspects of the project," said Jonathan Dorfan, chair of ICFA and director of the Department of Energy's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. "He will provide the leadership to coordinate and concentrate the combined resources and activities ongoing in Asia, Europe and the Americas."

Government representatives from funding agencies from Asia, Europe and the Americas have already held several meetings to lay the groundwork for possible approval of the International Linear Collider. Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), commented on the latest meeting.

"The meeting of FALC (Funding Agencies for the Linear Collider) in London on March 5 2005 was very successful," Halliday said "The appointment of Barry Barish to lead the project was strongly welcomed by FALC. FALC had previously been greatly impressed by his successful resolution of the difficult technology choice."

"The International Linear Collider will require a new, thoroughly globalized approach to accelerator building and operation, necessitated by the scale of complexity and cost of the planned accelerator," Totsuka said. "The world community has organized itself very quickly after the decision in August 2004 to design a linear collider using superconducting technology. There was enormous enthusiasm for the project at the recent International Linear Collider workshop held here in Japan, and I am sure that Barry Barish will provide the leadership to successfully channel this motivation towards a final design for the accelerator."

A new era of discovery in particle physics will open in 2007 with the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider, now under construction at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC, a circular proton-proton synchrotron, will operate at the highest energies any particle accelerator has ever achieved. The International Linear Collider would explore the same energy range using a different approach. By colliding electrons with positrons, the International Linear Collider would provide results with extraordinary precision, enabling the exploration of unknown regions of science.

Professor Brian Foster, Oxford University, and chair of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA), commented on the appointment.

"This appointment will increase the great momentum already building amongst the international particle physics community following the ILC technology decision reached last August," Foster said."The ILC Global Design Effort will provide the focal point for coordinating the interests and involvement of accelerator scientists and particle physicists in North America, Europe and Asia. This is a key milestone in driving the ILC forward".